FIELD AND FLYWAY
This multi-year initiative envisions the arts as a large-scale catalyst for the creative problem solving necessary to cultivate real connectivity and care across the span of a flyway.
Beak is a Bridge brings together artists, scientists, farmers, conservationists, rural and urban communities, and organizations at staging grounds along major bird migration routes through the North and South American continents.
For migratory birds, staging grounds are critical sites where they gather to rest during their long migrations. They are places of ample nourishment for large communities of birds, sites of respite and replenishment, and gatherings that strengthen social bonds. Different species of birds become reliant upon the health and abundance of the same landscape at the same time. Beak is a Bridge both mirrors and takes inspiration from this model of rest and community by creating adjacent opportunities for people to come together, rest, nourish one another, and prepare for what comes next. We can imagine our own staging grounds as places that cultivate creativity, expression and connection between fields.
It is much easier to listen from a place of pause.
Beak is a Bridge is a collaborative, community-directed research initiative where every encounter with an individual and a landscape determines the form. This project celebrates multiple forms of expertise and artistry, and creates opportunities for ongoing relationships, conversations and connections across the scale of a flyway.
Curated by artist Austen Camille, as a curatorial fellow with the Wormfarm Institute.
Project organizational partners include: International Crane Foundation; Aldo Leopold Foundation; Savanna Institute; Driftless Area Land Conservancy.
Project funding and supporters include the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts (Curatorial Research Fellowship, 2026-28).
Map of Beak is a Bridge coming soon!
The first gathering and research convening of Beak is a Bridge will take place at sites around Sauk and Iowa Counties, WI, in unison with the Great Midwest Crane Fest. In mid-November, the host organizations, International Crane Foundation and Aldo Leopold Foundation, celebrate the gathering of sandhill and whooping cranes on the banks of the Wisconsin River during their fall migration. Artists Tia Kramer and Amanda Leigh Evans of DeepTime Collective and Mark Menjívar are instrumental collaborators for this site.
Learn more about the first gathering for Beak is a Bridge.
Staging Ground: TBD Fall 2027
The second gathering and research convening will take place along the Platte River in Nebraska. More information coming soon!
Want to work with us? Want to see A Beak is a Bridge in your community?
Send us an email!